Phantom Limbs
by blak-cat23
Summary: Asami receives word Korra is back, and takes note of how three years changed her.


Korra didn't like her arms touched. Asami observed that over the years many times as she jerked away from deliberate grabs on her arm, became anxious over accidental brushes, or simple sat with her arms crossed in front of her. Asami herself figured it out early.

She'd been convinced into staying on Air Temple Island. When Korra's two weeks extended, she remained. When two weeks was suddenly six months, she stayed. When they hit a year, she finally felt like she was wearing out her welcome. Pema insisted though, immediately and firmly, that Asami was welcome, as were both Bolin and Mako, who were beginning to have similar doubts.

"You're all part of the kids really," Pema said. "And I know Jinora loves having you around." The last part was directed personally to Asami.

So they stayed, and so did the brothers. Each of them picking up as many chores as possible to make it less guilt-inducing. But things also drifted apart. When Kuvira called for Earthbenders to enlist, he'd been the first to sign up. Mako found things on the beat to keep him occupied until he was eventually pulled to bodyguard duty on Prince Wu. And so Asami poured into work, she rented an apartment downtown, though she still returned to her room at Air Temple Island often, she just as often crashed in her minimally furnished, quite lonely penthouse.

"You actually expect us to replace solid rock with rubber?"

Asami absolutely hated pitching things herself, but with certain projects she didn't trust anyone else to get it right. And the road system in Republic City had become very close to her heart.

"Rubberized roads are perfectly durable," Asami said. "I spent a year testing the prototype myself on my own racetrack."

"And what exactly is the point of mixing our cement with hunks of rubber?" said the commissioner.

"First of all, it's a very specific mixture, which I've outlined here," she pointed to the chart next to her. "And the hybrid roads would be far quieter. We've clocked in 12 decibels of noise reduction."

The commissioner was stroking his beard and squinting. Bidding for contracts was a nightmare. It's not necessarily that she desperately needed the business, but she knew if Cabbage Corp got a hold of the road system, cars would be falling through potholes the size of a house within months. The natural reaction then, was to point out all the well-documented flaws in Cabbage Corp's workmanship and final product. However, she chose to rely on her own ingenuity to speak for itself rather than play dirty.

"Could I test this, myself?" he finally said. It was something.

"Of course," Asami said. "We can pick a date, preferably in the next week, and you can inspect the prototype yourself. In the meantime, I have a packet with literature on the project for you. The formula's in there, there's stats as well, relevant portions of the research journal."

No one could say Asami did anything half way. If anything he might just say yes to keep her from continuing to shove it down his throat. He sighed and pulled out his glasses, perching them on the end of his hooked noise and squinted even hard as she passed him the filed and bound stack of papers.

"I'll just give you some quick highlights, if you turn to page—"

A knock at the door.

Asami was going to have to do her best to not break form and glare at her assistant.

"Pardon the intrusion, Ms. Sato," said the small voice of her mousy haired and young assistant. "They insisted it was urgent and would speak only to you."

"Who-?"

But she saw them as they pushed the door open and entered without invitation. Two guards, one man and one woman, dressed in the unmistakable uniform of the White Lotus. As always, they were stern faced and quiet.

Seeing them at all made Asami's heart jump. She couldn't lie, the first thing that came to mind when Tonraq came alone was that Korra had deserted them.

"She could have been kidnapped," Mako said, when they all sat around the table discussing it. "Someone could be forcing her to write those letters. We should check all of them for clues."

"It's possible," Tenzin said.

"I don't know," Tonraq said. "She wasn't in the best place when she left. Physically, she was all there—minus some residual bumps—but mentally…she'd have these moments where she'd drift off and sometimes snap back to reality in a panic. Or she'd stare at something only she could see or wake up convinced she was still chained up in that cave."

"The healers told us she would exhibit symptoms of post traumatic stress," Tenzin said.

Those were words that Asami learned front to back. Post traumatic stress: _high levels of anxiety, coupled with sensory flashbacks, and hyperarousal as a result of a traumatic event, first discovered by Healer Jiang after the Hundred Years War when soldiers reported…_

Coping mechanisms and avoidance of memories were both common. Asami harbored the suspicion and Tonraq seemed to agree, something scared Korra between home and Republic City and she ran. She didn't want to think about her alone, hiding, afraid, in danger and a plethora of other things. So she didn't, as much as she could. She threw herself into even more work to ignore the feeling that she might never see Korra again.

And now the White Lotus was barging into her meeting.

Asami was not unaccustomed to seeing them. Korra made sure a small garrison of them remained on Air Temple Island when she left. Asami knew she wanted to know there was some form of protection for the Airbenders, as if the White Lotus was some extension of herself. Another faction went down south with her, to serve their purpose as her bodyguards. And a third portion was across the world, hunting down members of their antithesis the Red Lotus.

With the forces stretched so thin, two of them coming to her was not for nothing. They'd only done it once before, to deliver a letter from Korra. She wondered if they carried another one perhaps.

"Our message is urgent and private in nature," the woman said, flashing a glance to the commissioner who looked dumfounded.

"Yes, could you give us a moment?" Asami said to the commissioner as kindly as she could muster. Her assistant sprang into action, rushing forward and ushering him out with promises of tea.

When the door was shut, the man spoke.

"Avatar Korra has returned to Republic City."

If Asami had been holding anything, it would have slipped from her fingers. So she settled for dropping to sit on her desk. Korra found her way back. Korra was alive and breathing in Republic City, her heart was still beating and it wasn't far away, tonight they'd look on the same skyline for the first time in years.

"When?" was all she could say.

"This morning," said the woman. "Last week an auxiliary team of Airbenders were sent by Master Tenzin with the expressed and sole purpose of locating her, in the wake of President Kuvira's refusal to step down."

"They found her three days ago," the man said.

"Can I see her?"

"That is why we're here. She requested your presence for lunch, anyone else whom you saw fit to invite."

She knew for a fact Korra had not said it like that. But still, she'd sent the White Lotus…it was odd.

"Why the formal invitation?" Asami said.

"She was resting."

"Is she alright?"

She watched both guards exchange glances as the unwillingness to answer more questions began. But knowing she was so close and being held just out of reach made Asami anxious and incredibly needy for perfect knowledge of Korra's condition.

"I'm going to find out anyway," Asami said to them, when they still hadn't answered.

"She attempted to challenge Kuvira at the gates of Zafou," the man said.

"Attempted?" Asami didn't like the sound of that.

"Kuvira has taken Zafou, the Avatar was forced to flee."

She knew about Kuvira. She knew, and she faced her, and she lost. Already hypothesizes were forming in her head. Kuvira was stronger, stronger than four elements? No. She recalled Korra's inability to enter the Avatar State and she had a burning suspicion it was still barred to her. Asami understood little about the "glowing eyes thing" but she knew it was inherent to Korra's powers, and the most direct link to Raava, someone Asami knew Korra would rather die in every painful way possible than be separated from.

"She's okay though?"Asami finally said.

"She is well enough to meet with you. She said for you to pick the location."

Asami scribbled down an address with the instructions to meet in an hour. When the White Lotus was gone she called Mako, despite her initial desire (and butterflies) to see Korra alone, it wasn't her place to keep Mako out.

"Ming Yue," she called for her assistant who appeared like a shadow almost instantly.

"Yes ma'am?"

"Cancel the rest of my appointments today. Tell Commissioner Cheng to look over the information I gave him and give me a date to test the prototype. Talk it up, if you can," Asami said.

"And what should I tell them has you indisposed?"

Should she tell the truth? It would certainly make her midday disappearance more credible. But Korra instructed them to give her this message in secret and she wasn't about to out the Avatar to the city.

"Personal matters, send my apologies."

* * *

><p>They arrived early, and the table was ready early. Asami bid Mako to go wait, order them some drinks, and she'd wait for Korra. Fifteen minutes passed to the designated meeting time. No Korra. Asami tried not to notice, it was only just the time they'd agreed to meet.<p>

She tapped her foot.

She pulled out a magazine.

Five minutes past the meeting time. Korra would be here. She might still have some issues getting around, and she never did master driving. It would be fine.

Ten minutes past the meeting time. It wasn't a joke, it hadn't been a cruel trick of the universe. Korra was here, she was just running late. She was the Avatar, after all, perhaps someone needed help, like a cat caught in a tree.

Korra would be here.

Korra would be here.

20 minutes past the meeting time.

Korra would be here.

Korra would be here.

Korra…was here.

Out of the corner of her eye, the one that had not been paying attention to one word she'd been reading in that magazine, saw a figure in blue appear and hang off to the side. And Asami hesitated for just a few seconds, afraid to look and see her vanish.

But she turned and there Korra was. Different.

The first thing she noticed was not the hair, it was how much smaller Korra seemed. The muscle mass on her body seemed to have diminished a bit over the years, from lack of use most likely. Asami knew what Korra probably didn't want her to know, that she'd been wheelchair bound for 6 months and off any sparring court in over a year. She lost some physicality and the way Korra walked told her that she knew it too.

She noticed the hair next and tried not to blush at how the first word that popped into her mind was _attractive_. She was certain there was a story there.

"I hope I didn't keep you waiting long."

"Only three years."

As they hugged and exchanged pleasantries, Asami noticed the sleeves going up her arms, from palm to almost shoulder. It wasn't winter yet, the air was still mild, and certainly mild enough for Korra to bare her arms as she liked to do, even in winter sometimes. And yet she was covered up.

"Come on, Mako's already got a table," Asami said, ushering her along.

"Great. I haven't had good food in months."

Asami kept a step behind her and watched her walk. There were slight hesitations, here and there, in the swing of her leg or the bend of her knee. It made her walk with a slight limp every now and again. But Asami stared at those hidden arms.

_Hidden arms…_

Asami tried not to cry.

What was once a source of pride and served as instant threat for her enemies, was now buried. Zaheer had inserted the poison right through the tissue on her bare arms. And now they were hidden away, covered up in a security blanket.

Korra was power, now she was scared. She was once a shield and now she was shielded. And Asami thought she just might be even more beautiful when she noticed the now broken parts. Something about Korra became more real, now. Asami hated that it happened, hated that so much evil had to transpire for her to be able to notice fully.

Through bumps and hiccups they got through lunch and got through rescuing Wu and got through the day. And she silently promised to herself that she'd be the one making sure no one ever touched Korra's arms again.


End file.
